What should I pay attention to for pain in liver cancer patients?

  Liver cancer is one of the most prevalent tumors in China, with insidious onset and lack of obvious clinical manifestations in early stage, we often call liver as “silent organ”. Patients with mid- to late-stage hepatocellular carcinoma mostly have pain as the first manifestation, with an incidence rate of more than 50%. Pain is a kind of reaction when the human body is stimulated by injury, and many diseases will have such a reaction. Besides bringing discomfort to the body, it can also bring psychological stress to the patient, which has a great impact on the treatment of the disease. So let’s take a look at those things about pain of liver cancer patients.  Pain site: The most common pain site of liver cancer patients is the liver area, which is located in the right rib area or under the prominence of the sword in our body.  Nature of pain: Patients may experience discomfort in the right upper abdomen for a period of time before the pain. The pain is generally manifested as intermittent or persistent vague, dull or stabbing pain, which can be aggravated when breathing.  Pain manifestation of liver cancer in different locations: Patients with liver cancer located in the top of diaphragm in the right lobe of liver —- may often experience radiating pain in the right shoulder or right back.  Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma located in the left lobe of the liver —- usually present with middle and upper abdominal distension earlier, and occasionally may also present with pain in the left quarter rib area or back.  Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma located in the deep part of the liver parenchyma —- usually rarely have pain.  Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma with severe cirrhosis —- may experience dull pain or colic in the upper abdomen.  Life-threatening pain: When rupture of hepatocellular carcinoma or subperitoneal hemorrhage occurs, patients may experience sudden severe pain in the liver area with tenderness in the liver area, followed by signs of peritoneal irritation (abdominal pressure pain, rebound pain and abdominal muscle tension), dizziness, panic, increased pulse rate and decreased blood pressure, or when there is bloody fluid in the abdominal puncture, which may be life-threatening. Prompt resuscitation is needed.  Liver cancer metastasis can also cause pain in related parts: liver cancer is easy to metastasize and metastasis to different locations can cause symptoms in corresponding parts, for example, metastasis to lung can cause chest pain, metastasis to bone can cause bone pain and other manifestations.  Non-drug methods to relieve pain:When patients have pain symptoms, besides drug treatment, some non-drug treatments can also help patients improve their symptoms.  Deep breathing: chest breathing can relieve abdominal pressure Comfortable lying position: when the patient is in pain, taking the affected side lying position or half lying position can help the patient to relieve the pain.     Diverting attention: according to the different preferences of patients, throwing their attention, such as listening to music, telling jokes, listening to comedy, etc., can divert patients’ attention and distract them from the pain.  Reduce psychological pressure: patients are prone to anxiety, depression and other emotions, these adverse emotions, easy to aggravate the patient’s sensitivity to pain, family members need to more comfort, encourage patients, establish confidence in the fight against the disease, relax the body, give moderate psychological suggestion, improve the patient’s pain threshold.  Massage: It should be noted that massage must be gentle so as not to cause tumor rupture or metastasis.  In clinical work, it is easy to misdiagnose right shoulder pain caused by liver cancer as frozen shoulder, and right abdominal pain also needs to be distinguished from cholecystitis and gastritis. If liver disease patients have unexplained right shoulder pain and abdominal pain, they must pay attention to timely examination to buy more time for treatment.